The invention concerns a method and a device for balancing a wheel.
In prior devices and methods for the balancing of automobile wheels, the nominal data of the wheel rim are computed as wheel specific data or are evaluated by means of a measuring device. A computer provided in the balancing device evaluates, thereafter, the positions and values of the balancing weights.
The nominal data, however, in many cases do not correspond to the positions in which the balancing weights may be mounted. Therefore, the balancing positions have to be evaluated through correction factors which, however, constitute only mean values for various rim types and sizes. By using such average values, differences originate between the calculated and the actual balancing positions which can lead to an insufficient result in balancing.
A method for compensating the lack of balance on a automobile wheel is known from the European patent application EPO 586 856 Al in which a pick-up device is provided in order to manually pick up or determine, respectively, the positions on the outline of the rim at which the balancing weights should be mounted according to the experience of the user. In doing so, the pick-up is brought to the so-called balancing planes where the balancing weights should be mounted later on. The deficiency of this known method is that the user decides during the picking-up in which areas the balancing weights should be arranged. Furthermore, the known method is only applicable with standardized wheel shapes (standard wheels, flat-base rims, steep shoulder wheels etc.) which may be characterized by means of a few pick-up values on the various balancing planes.